Matrix Golf & Hospitality
Charles Taylor, Vice President

Avendra wasn’t the first purchasing program Charles Taylor had considered. As vice president of Matrix Development Group’s Golf & Hospitality Division, he was always looking for ways to improve profitability at the eight golf clubs owned and managed by Matrix Golf & Hospitality.

In fact, Charles had looked at both national and regional buying programs in the past. His conclusion was that other programs were neither flexible enough to serve Matrix’s diverse network of clubs - nor large enough to represent significant savings.

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Using Avendra has been surprisingly easy for the individual clubs, which manage their own purchasing and are responsible for meeting their own profitability targets.  Even with longstanding suppliers, such as John Deere Golf (formerly LESCO), clubs see savings.  Clubs frequently are able to continue to use familiar suppliers, but with additional savings.  Charles noted, “Our John Deere Golf representative confirmed that Avendra has the best pricing available, and we have seen those savings.”

As the Avendra program was rolled out to the Matrix clubs, skepticism about prices and quality was apparent in the beginning, as is common with any shift in process.  Charles comments, “Our chefs were checking other food and beverage pricing against Avendra’s pricing; however, as employees become more familiar and comfortable with the overall Avendra program the need for this type of assurance will eventually phase out.  When you have confidence about pricing and quality, what’s left is more time for staff members to focus on the job they’re really supposed to do.”

At this point, six of the eight clubs in the Matrix Golf & Hospitality Division are participating in the Avendra program, with plans to include the entire network shortly. Charlie concludes, “With the results we expect to see, we believe that all of our clubs will derive significant value from the Avendra program, and will be anxious to get on board.”